The results are in from the 20th Festival Internacional del Nuevo Cine Latino Americano, which took place in Havana, Cuba, from December 1-11, 1998. All the films in competition were from Latin American countries. The following awards were given out for animated entries:

Sony Signatures' Film and Television division has named Hasbro, Inc. as the master toy licensee for the holiday '99 Columbia Pictures live-action/visual effects film, "Stuart Little." Hasbro will produce everything from plush toys to interactive software. The film is based on the classic E.B. White book of the same name about a mouse who is raised by the Littles, a human family who learns to dream big and live large when they think little.

New York-based The Attik produced a pair of 30-second spots, "Save Chef," to promote the new Comedy Central "South Park" musical offering "Chef Aid: The South Park Album" on American Recordings (Los Angeles)/Columbia Records (New York). The CD, which was released on November 24, is an extension of the "Chef Aid" episode, where Chef gets sent to prison and the community sponsors a "Chef Aid" concert to raise money and bail him out.

Columbia Tristar Home Video and the Harvey Entertainment Company will
release "Baby Huey's Great Easter Adventure," a live-action, feature-length
musical comedy, starring the classic oversized, diapered duck in his first
movie ever. The direct-to-video film, which will be released on March 2,
1999, stars Joseph Bologna, Maureen McCormick, Harvey Korman, David Lander,
and David Leisure. The song-filled film also includes a bonus Baby Huey
cartoon, "Daycare Duckie," packaged with the film. The film is about how

The Castelli Animati (Animated Castles) International Animated Film Festival held its second edition, October 15 - 17, 1998 in Rome, Italy. The prize winners were selected by an international jury: painter Carla Accardi (Italy), cartoonist and director Oscar Grillo (Argentina), director Daniele Luchetti (Italy), cartoonist and director Sergio Staino and director Pal Toth (Hungary).

Grand Prize and Audience Prize: “Geri’s Game” by Jan Pinkava (U.S.A.)

First Film Prize: “Sientje” by Christa Moesker (Netherlands).

On October 13, Columbia TriStar Home Video released "Buster & Chauncey's Silent Night," a direct-to-video animated musical based on the true story of "Silent Night." The 48-minute film was produced by Buzz Potamkin and is Columbia TriStar's first in-house direct-to-video animated feature. Voice talent, directed by Susan Blu, includes the late Phil Hartman, Tom Arnold and Marie Osmond.

Buzz Potamkin has been named to the board of directors of Visionary Media LLC, a New York-based company that develops online content. Potamkin is president of an independent animation consulting firm, Project X, through which he will now explore opportunities for Visionary Media’s web properties, such as “WhirlGirl,” to reach additional media including film and television animation. Since founding Project X in 1996, Potamkin has just completed production of the direct-to-video title “Buster & Chauncey's Silent Night” for Columbia Tri-Star Home Video.

* Tuesday, October 20 - Friday, October 23. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.


SIBGRAPI, the International Symposium on Computer Graphics, Image Processing and Vision takes place. The SIBGRAPI Video Festival is traditionally presented during one of the four nights of the symposium. Its purpose is to show visual explanations of animation, computer graphics techniques, algorithm animation and software demonstrations, as well as computer-generated films produced by TV companies. For information visit www.lcg.ufrj.br/~nando.

OTTAWA WINNERS. The Ottawa International Animation Festival wrapped up on Sunday night with an awards show at the National Arts Center in Canada’s capital city. The grand prize went to the new Estonian film, “Night of the Carrots,” by Priit Pärn who was on hand to accept the award as the festival also hosted a four-part retrospective of Estonian animation.

New York-based 4 Kids Entertainment is bringing the popular Japanese animated series "Pokémon" to the international market. The show started in U.S. syndication in September, and is signed to appear on Italy's MediaSet network, Australia's Channel 10, Mexico's Televisa, Canada's YTV and Brazil's Globo TV.